The city has always been proud to show off its status, as this article in the Cardiff Times on the city hall and law courts shows.

Cardiff's wealth was founded on the export of coal. Prior to World War One, the city had the busiest coal-exporting docks in the world.

By the end of the war, the city's docks and international coal trade were in decline. The change would affect the city's economy for generations.

Worse was to come during the World War Two. Cardiff took its share of the German bombings raids on docks across south Wales. Hundreds of homes were destroyed.

But the boom of post war re-development saw Cardiff become Wales' capital in 1955. Five year later, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was in Cathays Park to unveil a statue of David Lloyd George.

Cardiff's industrial decline was perhaps to be felt most in the area of the city for which it is most famous, the docklands community known as Tiger Bay.

Singer Shirley Bassey is Tiger Bay's most famous export, moving from work in bars and clubs to becoming a world-class performer.

The multi-faith community of Tiger Bay has long gone, but the docklands area has since been regenerated as the leisure and business district now called Cardiff Bay.

The Cardiff Bay barrage, creating the largest man-made city waterfront in Europe, was a central part of the city's economic regeneration.